


nothing but the best

by murphysarc



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, alternate universe - culinary school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 09:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4559127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murphysarc/pseuds/murphysarc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira Yukimura's life revolves around food. It’s what she’s good at, and she intends to use what she’s good at in order to achieve her ultimate goal in life; own a five star restaurant in the busy city of Los Angeles. Along with her friends Erica, Lydia, and Malia, she slowly starts to emerge from her own shell and find herself.</p><p>Everything's going great, until a fire burns down Kira’s dorm, and she has to move in to Allison Argent’s dorm – the one girl Kira can’t stand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing but the best

**Author's Note:**

  * For [webofdreams89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/gifts).



> This work is gifted to the lovely webofdreams89 :) I hope you enjoy!
> 
> *Title is from "Someone Like You" by Adele.

Nobody was really that surprised when the letter came in the mail. Not even Kira was, if she was being honest. Cooking was her passion, and anyone she had ever met always knew she was going to be going to great places. The Beacon Hills Institution of the Culinary Arts? That was only her first step.

That was how Kira led her life, actually, as a series of steps, one right after the other, leading to one future goal – opening her own five-star restaurant in the heart of Los Angeles. First she learned how to cook, and then she made dinner every night for her family, and then she enrolled in the high school cooking program, and then she won a national cooking competition, and then she graduated with a scholarship to the best culinary school in California. It was a dream, it really was, but it wasn’t enough. None of it would be enough until she had achieved her goal.

“Why do you love cooking so much? It’s just throwing a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and mixing them around.” Kira’s best friend, Cora, had asked her that one night, the night after graduation, when Kira had gotten her scholarship. That night had been the best night of Kira’s life.

“That’s just it,” she’d answered. “A bunch of different things get put together, and they make something amazing.”

“Fair enough,” Cora had said, “but not everyone likes every kind of food. So it’s not amazing for everyone.”

Kira had never thought of that. She’d never admit it, but it sort of like a cloud coming over her thoughts. “Well then,” she said, “I’ll just have to make a recipe everyone likes one day. It’ll be the main course at my five-star restaurant.”

Cora had just laughed and said that was ‘so like Kira’ but Kira had taken that conversation a lot more serious than that. And so, as Kira stood outside of her new college, bags in hand, all she could think about was her dreams.

As soon as she walked into the main office building, she was greeted by a very over-enthusiastic girl wearing a bright red shirt with two knives on it, crossed over each other. Apparently, it was the school logo. “Hi there!” she chirped. “New student?”

Kira just smiled shyly. “Ah, yeah, that’s me. Kira Yukimura?”

The girl looked down at her clipboard and quickly scanned through the names. “Ah, there you are! Nice to meet you, Kira. You’ve got dorm room B3, and you’ll be sharing with Erica Reyes.”

Kira groaned a little bit at the thought of a roommate. Roommates meant probable late night partying and general distractions from studying her technique. “Thanks,” she muttered, grabbing her bag, taking the key offered to her, and walking as fast as she could away from the office. There was no way she was sticking around with a girl _that_ perky. Kira wondered just how much she was being paid to smile that much.

With the help of a huge map hanging in the hallway, Kira found her dorm room with no trouble whatsoever. The door was shut and locked. Hopefully, that meant her roommate, Erica, hadn’t gotten there yet. She quietly unlocked the door and pushed the door open slowly, but when she saw the state of the room, she couldn’t help the groan that escaped her lips.

Clearly, Erica _had_ gotten here already, and chosen the right side of the room. Two bags crammed full of her stuff had been thrown on the bed. One of them was already open and practically overflowing. The rest of her stuff had been thrown lazily onto the floor or the shelf leaning against the wall. There didn’t appear to be any kind of organizational system at all.

“I’ll just ignore it, then,” Kira said to herself. Sighing, she gently put her bag on the bed on the left side of the room, and started unpacking. Unlike her roommate, she made sure everything had a place, and everything went where it belonged. It didn’t take long; Kira considered herself to be an expert at organizing.

Just as she was content with her side of the room, the door unlocked and in stepped another girl. She had long, wavy blonde hair and intense brown eyes. “Hey there,” the girl said. “You must be Kira, unless you’ve broken into my dorm room somehow. I’m Erica.”

Confidence was practically radiating off of Erica. “Uh, hi,” Kira said once she realized that she hadn’t actually spoken yet. “I’m Kira. Nice to meet you.”

Erica gave a small nod in response and then flopped down on her bed, but she kept looking at Kira. “I see you’ve unpacked already. You’re doing better than me.”

Kira gave her a small smile as she fought the blush creeping up her cheeks. It was a little embarrassing, the speed that she could unpack and organize things.

“Anyways,” Erica said, “My friends Lydia and Malia are both coming over soon. You can totally stay, but I get it if you don’t, too.”

Kira had to fight not to grimace. It was only day one, and her roommate was already inviting people over? Two people weren’t that many, but soon two would become four, and then ten, and then the whole school would be coming for a “party in Erica’s dorm.”

“It’s fine,” Kira said. “I think – I think I’ll check out the kitchens tonight, so don’t worry about me getting in the way.”

Erica smiled. “Alright. But don’t think you aren’t welcome. I’m sure Lydia and Malia would love you. Well, probably not more than they love each other, but…”

Kira said goodbye and left, then, forcing herself to check out the communal kitchen for her wing of dorms. Each dorm had one, and everyone was ‘encouraged to practice their skills and make use of the supplies provided on a daily basis.’ How Kira was going to have time for that, she didn’t know, but in the short while she had before classes started she figured it was worth spending some time there.

She expected the kitchen to be empty, as most people were probably socializing like Erica, but when she opened the door another girl was already inside. She didn’t appear to notice Kira entering, but if she did, she didn’t give any indication. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a messy bun. A few strands had already worked their way loose, hitting her cheek every time she moved. Her blue plaid shirt had a few fresh flour stains on it.

“Hi,” Kira said. The girl, who was in the process of furiously whisking her flour, finally looked up. Her dark brown eyes scanned Kira up and down, like she was sizing her up. “Are you alright if I use the kitchens too?”

The girl looked away and went back to her mixing. “They’re open to anyone, aren’t they?”

“I guess so,” Kira sighed, shaking off the girl’s animosity. Kira had only tried to be nice, but there was no point talking to her if she didn’t want to return the gesture.

The two remained in silence for a long time until Kira couldn’t bear it anymore. The girl – whose bun had all but fallen out at this point – was using half a bottle of lemon juice in her mixture. She wasn’t even measuring it. “Lemon flavour, huh?” Kira said.

The girl barely reacted, but she did stop pouring lemon juice. “Did you want it?”

“No,” Kira replied, “You just seemed to be using a lot of it, that’s all.” When the girl still didn’t respond, Kira automatically regretted saying anything. She was just making a fool out of herself now.

After about forty minutes had passed, the girl had cleaned up her area and she pulled out a tray filled with perfect, circular cookies. She carefully put them all on a plate and, while she was eating one, offered it to Kira. A little bit of a weight left Kira’s shoulders – this was probably the girl’s gesture of friendship, right?

She took one of the cookies and bit into it. Immediately, she had to fight not to spit it out. The lemon was _far_ too strong, causing Kira’s eyes to water a little bit. “They’re…good,” Kira said once she’d somehow managed to swallow.

The girl just smiled, took her cookies, and left. _Whatever_ , Kira thought. She didn’t have time for people like that.

 

* * *

 

 

Ten minutes later, Kira came back into her dorm room with a chocolate double-decker cake. A dessert seemed the best way to celebrate her first day at the new school. She had to fumble with the keys a bit, but finally she got the door open, though, much to her chagrin, Erica’s friends were still there.

Erica was sitting on her own bed, with a tall redhead girl who had excellent posture seated next to her. Across from them, on Kira’s bunk, was another girl, with short dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. “You’re back,” Erica said as Kira closed the door behind her, still balancing the cake with both hands.

“I am,” Kira said. The three girls were all looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to say more. She had two options – she could say nothing and focus on her studies for the whole semester, which she wanted to do. Or she could throw caution out the window and make a few friends. “The kitchens were really nice,” she added, which satisfied the girls.

“I’m Lydia,” the redhead said, standing and extending a hand. “I assume you’ve met Erica, and that’s Malia over there.” Malia gave a half-hearted wave when her name was said.

“I’d shake your hand,” Kira said, “But…”

“Oh!” Lydia said. “Of course. Here, I can take that. It looks great. Did you make it just now?” she asked, taking the cake and setting it on the floor at the centre of the room.

“Yep,” Kira said. “Did you guys want some?”

Just like that, any tension dissolved. Malia patted the bed beside her to invite Kira to sit, while Erica went and got some plates and a knife that had been in the dorm room cupboard. “This is really good,” Malia said when she’d had a bite.

“Thanks,” Kira replied. “You should have seen the kitchens. They’re _so_ nice.”

“I’m not surprised,” Erica said through a mouthful of cake. “This whole place is levels above anywhere I’ve been before.”

“It’s the best institution in California,” Lydia added.

“It’s nice, but it’s expensive,” Malia sighed. “If it wasn’t for the scholarships I got, I wouldn’t be able to be here.”

“Same,” Kira said.

“I worked several jobs throughout high school and the year after,” Lydia said. “I don’t have much saved up anymore, but I bet with experience gained here we can all get a job after we graduate.”

“You certainly have everything planned out,” Kira said, laughing.

“It’s what I do.” The pride in Lydia’s voice was easily noticed. “It’s better that way. Making a plan. And a backup plan. That way, nothing can surprise you.”

Erica laughed. “And that is where you and I disagree. I never have a plan. You know how many college applications I sent out? Over fifty. Random places, across the country, just seeing where I’d be accepted.”

“So you didn’t have any idea what you even wanted to do?” Malia asked in wonder.

“Nah,” Erica laughed. “It’s more fun that way.”

Kira noticed that was generally how things went between them. Erica would never plan, Lydia would always plan, and Malia tried to plan but her plans often failed. Kira supposed she herself was more like Lydia, but she _wanted_ to be more like Erica.

The rest of the day passed more quickly than Kira could have imagined. They ended up finishing the cake and then going for a walk around the campus, learning where everything was. Although they probably looked like clueless freshmen that everyone laughed at, it was fun.

Kira never would have guessed that _people_ could be this much fun.

 

* * *

 

 

On their very first day, Kira ended up pouring a pot of boiling water over her arm, and just like that, she was the laughingstock of the class.

That wasn’t completely right – it was actually Allison freaking Argent’s fault, but no one was paying attention to that part.

They were supposed to be making a basic sauce, one that their instructor said could “go with any dish” and to be used in “cases of emergency.” After what had happened, Kira couldn’t even remember the name of the sauce, so she was pretty sure she’d failed that segment.

Anyways, the girl who had been making lemon cookies in the kitchens the previous day had been assigned to the same working station as Kira. That was fine; the girl had seemed a little weird, but she hadn’t seemed _mean_ or anything and she certainly didn’t seem like she could be any kind of distraction from Kira’s studies.

She’d noticed when they entered their small station that there had been a spot of water on the floor. It wasn’t a big deal, but she asked Allison – who hadn’t even told Kira her name. Kira had had to find out through the instructor when they got their assignment – to clean it up while she got the pot and everything ready and she hadn’t thought about it again. _That_ was clearly a mistake.

Ten minutes later, as Kira was moving to the sink to get rid of the rest of her boiling water, the wet spot was still on the floor. Specifically, it was still on the spot of the floor that Kira put her foot on.

She didn’t trip all the way, but in order to balance herself one of her hands let the pot go, which caused it to tip and…the rest was history.

“Kira!” Allison had actually sounded concerned.

“I told you,” Kira hissed through gritted teeth as she put the pot down and started running icy cold water over her burn, “to clean it _up_.”

Allison stopped talking. It was only right – there was nothing more to say.

 

* * *

 

 

“It was on purpose. I’m _sure_ it was on purpose.”

Erica just shook her head. After the incident, Kira had gone and gotten her arm wrapped up and cream had been applied on it. It wasn’t that bad, and there was no way she was missing class, so she had gone right back for the next assignment. Allison had tried to talk to her, but Kira didn’t respond unless it was absolutely necessary.

“I think you’re over-thinking this,” the blonde said. They were back in their dorm room now, and both were ready to keel over. “It was an accident.”

“One that could have been avoided. _Should_ have been avoided. What if I had actually fallen? My whole face could’ve burned off.”

“So you think Allison is sabotaging you?”

Kira sighed. “I don’t know. But I just know I told her to clean it up, and it wasn’t cleaned up, and I’m the one who had to suffer for it.”

“Maybe it would be best if you went to sleep,” Erica suggested, still laughing a little bit. “Like I’m going to do, right now.”

“Yeah, alright,” Kira relented, turning off her light. Maybe the conversation with Erica was over, but there was no way she was letting this slide.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t hard for Kira to nail down the scent. She smelled it every day in the kitchens. It almost always, always meant that something was wrong and the ovens should be opened. It was fixable.

But this time, she wasn’t in the kitchens, and there weren’t any ovens to open. There was just a bunch of dorm rooms, all burning down before anyone could stop them. There wasn’t anything she could do about that.

“Holy…,” Erica muttered, but Kira barely heard. She kept her eyes straight ahead; staring at the door she was going to take to enter her dorm room, _her_ dorm room, with all of her things.

There was a chance, they were saying, and that some of the dorms would be saved. The fire had been started in one of the rooms at the very end of the hall, so the ones at the start of the hall should be safe. This news made a lot of anxious people less anxious.

Kira’s room was at the very end of the hall. This news did not make her less anxious in the slightest.

She stood there, waiting, until Erica finally had to drag her away.

 

* * *

 

 

“ _What_?!”

“Kira-”

“There is _no_ way this is happening! No. Way. There _has_ to be some other option.”

Kira’s dorm room had burned down. The fire had started in the room across from theirs, so there was never any hope that their stuff could be saved – apparently, a cigarette that shouldn’t have technically have been there started it all.

It was fine – well, it wasn’t fine, but it was _manageable_ – except the school administration decided it would be a fine idea to now give people who were dorm-less a new dorm. Since there were no empty dorms, people like Kira and Erica would be assigned to a dorm with two other people, making a dorm of three or four.

They’d just gotten back their new room assignments, and when Kira saw the name of her new dorm mate on the list, well. She wasn’t happy.

“They’ve got to be kidding me. Allison Argent? They’re making me room with _Allison Argent?_ Do they remember what she did to me?”

“You don’t know that it was on purpose-”

“I do!”

“Kira-”

“No, I’m not going to calm down!” she yelled, but then she sighed and looked up at Erica, Lydia, and Malia, her now three best friends. “Okay, fine, I’m going to calm down. But still! Why can’t Erica be there at least?”

“Sorry,” Erica said. “I wish, but I’m assigned with some other girl…Tracy? Or something? I don’t know.”

“That just doesn’t seem fair,” Kira sighed, finally relaxing. She was sitting on Malia’s bed in her and Lydia’s dorm room. “What if she tries to off me in my sleep?”

_“Kira.”_

“Yeah, yeah, alright.”

 

* * *

 

 

After the first couple days, the rooming situation wasn’t as awkward as Kira had thought it would be. Allison’s previous roommate happened to drop out a week before the fire, so Kira was slotted for Allison’s room as her new one. For the most part, Allison stayed on her side of the room and didn’t talk to Kira except when she had to. It felt slightly like Allison was actually afraid of her, which made Kira feel a little bit guilty for being so mean, but it wasn’t like the feelings were one sided. Allison _had_ tried to seriously hurt Kira, after all.

Besides, Kira had other things to occupy her thoughts. A big cooking showcase was coming up in just over a month, which meant people would actually be cooking for a judge, and if they liked your food, it could seriously help your future career. Apparently, everyone who won a showcase went on to do great things.

There was also the matter of Malia and Lydia dating. Both of them had liked each other since the first day, and now finally, they’d just made it official. Kira couldn’t deny she was a little jealous of them and how easy their relationship just fell into place.

Anyways, a month or two passed with Kira casually ignoring Allison and Allison silently taking it. The silence in their dorm was deafening at times, but Kira wouldn’t have it any other way.

That is, of course, until one day when the door burst open and Erica stormed in, her hands moving wildly. “Kira!” she shouted. Kira jumped up, sure there was another fire, while Allison just casually looked up from the book she was reading.

“What is it?” Kira asked. It must have been serious because Erica hadn’t even taken the time to curl her hair today.

“The showcase! You know about the showcase, right? Where we’re getting judged and the person who wins is destined to have an amazing culinary future?”

“Of course I know about the showcase…”

“Right.” Erica paused only to take a breath. “We have to work in teams. _Teams._ ”

It didn’t dawn on Kira for a while, but then she realized. “ _Oh_. We can be on a team? There’s less chance of failure on a team!”

“Exactly,” Erica said, finally relaxing and sitting down. “Lydia and Malia already recruited me and now I’m recruiting you. The only problem is, we need to be a team of five.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. But with you, me, Lydia, and Malia, we only have four.”

Kira bit her lip. “What about your roommate? Tracy? She seems nice.”

“She’s already got a team,” Erica said, shaking her head. “We need to get a fifth member now, before we get stuck with someone who will mess everything up.”

Kira bit her lip harder, thinking about everyone she knew in their class. “What about Kali? She’s got skill.”

“Can’t sauté to save her life.”

“Hayden! Hayden, definitely.”

“Doesn’t know pepper from salt.”

“Jennifer!”

Erica gave her a look. “Are you serious?”

“Then I don’t know,” Kira sighed. “I think we’ll just have to pick someone.”

Erica’s head shot up suddenly. “You! Allison! Are you on a team?”

“Oh no,” Kira said immediately. “Do you remember the part where she almost burned my arm off? We are not-”

“I’m not on a team,” Allison said.

“Erica, we are not-”

“How would you like to be on our team?”

“Erica!”

Allison gave Kira an uneasy glance, but then turned her head to meet Erica’s gaze with a fiery intensity that Kira had never seen before. “Sure. I’d love to.”

“Great,” Erica said, ignoring Kira’s protests. “See you both in an hour, in Malia and Lydia’s dorm. We have to make plans.”

Erica left, leaving Kira alone with her new…teammate. “This doesn’t change anything,” Kira said through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t think it would,” Allison said, sighing. “But I also want to win, and some of the best are on your team. Including you.”

Kira was taken aback by the compliment. She had been sure Allison had nothing but pure hatred for her. “Um. Thanks, I guess.”

After a few seconds of silence, Allison sat up on her bed and put her book down. “Look. It wasn’t intentional. You told me to clean up the spill, and I _did_. Maybe I didn’t clean it up well enough. Maybe that was a new spill. I have no idea. But it wasn’t intentional. As much as I want to be the best, I wouldn’t – I would never dream of doing anything like that to you.”

Kira didn’t know what to say. Maybe she was lying, maybe she was telling the truth, but if Allison really did want Kira gone, there was no reason for her to be so nice all of a sudden. “Okay,” she finally said. “Come on. We might as well go to Malia and Lydia’s dorm room now.”

Allison stood up. “Are we good?”

Kira sighed, opening the door. “I guess we are.”

 

* * *

 

 

It was the day of the big showcase, and Kira had never felt so nervous.

Together, their team had decided to make a parmesan tilapia; it was fancy, and intricate, but it wasn’t all that hard. They had their plan set out, and they knew that it would be fantastic, but…there were so many ways it could go wrong.

“We’re going to be fine,” Erica said as she tied her messy blonde hair into a bun. With all the stress from school and studying, she hadn’t had the time to re-dye it, so her natural brown roots were starting to show.

“Of course we are,” Lydia seconded. “We all know what we’re going to do?”

“Yep,” Malia said, giving her girlfriend a small kiss before tying up her own hair.

“The judges will be blown away,” Allison agreed.

They all looked at Kira. “Um,” she said, “Go, team?”

It was time for them to start in five minutes. They were assigned a station, complete with everything they would need, and were then given two and a half hours to make the entire dish, enough for at least three people.

“Five, four, three, two…”

The time between ‘two’ and ‘one’ seemed to stretch for far longer than one second, but finally, the mechanical countdown jumped to ‘one’ and then ‘go’ and just like that, a frenzy broke out.

Movement was happening all around Kira but she couldn’t allow herself to get distracted. Instead, she moved left and right throughout the kitchen, slipping past people and going as fast but as carefully as possible.

An hour had passed before it felt like a minute had. It was part of what Kira loved about cooking; she could lose herself in the process of making a meal.

Another hour passed. The five of them had finished and the tilapia had almost finished as well. It was a relief they had finished in time; being disqualified for being too slow would be too big of an embarrassment to live down.

“Now to make sure…,” Erica sighed. She took a tiny piece of the fish and carefully chewed it. The rest of the team watched in silence, carefully seeing if all their work paid off.

A whole lot of hopes and dreams fell crashing to the floor when Erica had to spit out the fish.

“It’s way too bland,” she said, looking up at them with panic in her eyes. “It tastes like nothing. What went wrong? What could’ve gone wrong?”

No one knew what to do. There was no reason for it to taste that bad. Even Lydia, the calm, collected one, looked panicked and stressed. Kira looked over at Allison, standing next to her, and-

Her mind flashed back to months previous, on the very first day she’d come to the Institute. She’d met Allison in the dorm kitchens, making a cake, while Allison had made outrageously sour cookies, and they were sour because…

“Lemon!” Kira cried. “We can add lemon. It won’t do anything to the fish, right, but it’ll add flavour.”

Allison raised her head and looked over at Kira with wonder in his eyes. “You remember?” she whispered, causing Kira to look back at her. For the first time since she’d known her, Kira looked at Allison with true admiration.

“I don’t know if that’ll work,” Lydia muttered, shaking her head, “but…we’re out of options. Let’s do it. Douse it with lemon.”

They did just that, and even though the flavour wasn’t necessarily desirable, it was better than nothing. Allison, naturally, loved it.

Their half hour was up pretty quickly, and they dished their plates. Someone came to take them away to another room, while the team was stuck waiting for news of how they placed. “I can’t believe we just doused a fish in lemon,” Lydia kept saying, over and over, while Malia just laughed.

“You two make a good pair, you know.” Kira looked over to see Erica, looking intently at her. “Kira and Allison…it has a ring to it.”

Kira’s eyes widened, and she looked over at Allison. The slightly taller girl was looking at her the same way Kira had just been; with pure admiration. “Thanks for remembering. I thought you hated lemon,” she said.

Kira just laughed. “I did. But I guess opinions can change, can’t they?”

Allison smiled, making the corner of her eyes crinkle. “I guess they can.” Without any warning, Allison’s hand was running though Kira’s hair, and suddenly their lips were colliding. The kiss was soft, and delicate. Both of their lips were chapped and their mouths dry, but something about it still felt ethereal.

“Was that okay?” Allison whispered.

“Yes,” Kira said back. “Very okay.”

The sound of high heels on the ground alerted them to the fact that someone was coming back into the room. Reluctantly, they drew apart, but Allison grabbed Kira’s hand, and Kira let her. She ignored the muted chuckles the other girls were trying to stifle behind their arms.

“The judges have tasted all the food, and while most of the dishes were enjoyed, one definitive winner has been chosen. We are pleased to announce that Team 7 has won this year’s showcase.”

Kira blinked, frozen to the spot. What team were they? Quickly, along with every other person, she turned around to glance at the number hanging above the kitchen they had been in. And there it was. A silver ‘7,’ marking them, _them_ , as the winners.

“We’re team 7,” Erica said breathlessly next to her.

“We’re team 7!” Malia echoed, cheering.

“We won?” Kira whispered.

“We won,” Allison answered. “We won. Because of you.”

“No,” Kira said, looking up at her. “We won because of _you_.” With a squeeze of her hand, Kira turned around and began to whoop and cheer with the rest of her team.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Los Angeles, huh?”

Kira rested her head on Allison’s lap, as she curled up on their bed, while Allison remained seated. She claimed she was braiding Kira’s hair, but Kira was pretty sure she just wanted the contact.

“Yeah,” Kira said. “I want to open a restaurant in Los Angeles…well, I used to, at least.”

“What’s changed?”

“Now I want to open a restaurant with _you_ in Los Angeles.”

Kira could almost hear Allison’s smile. “I would be honoured.”

“Of course, the starring dish would be doused in lemon. Perhaps even tilapia.”

“You sure you don’t actually hate lemon?”

“No,” Kira said. “In fact, I think I love it.”

“As much as you love me?”

Kira looked out the window of their dorm room, at the setting sun. She gazed at the buildings in the distance. The city outside looked identical to the one she’d grown up in. It reminded her of the person she had been; the focused, careful, solitary person she’d thought she’d always be. She’d even thought that being that way would make her happy. But maybe, this entire time, all she’d really needed was a little bit of flavour.

“No,” Kira said, smiling, “But I love it almost as much.”


End file.
